Job Description for Transport Volunteers

The Position

The position of Transport Volunteer is the most critical position in the Tampa Bay Harvest family. The Transport Volunteer is the Tampa Bay Harvest volunteer who will have the most contact with our donors and the recip­ient agencies served by Tampa Bay Harvest. The Transport Volunteer will, therefore, have the greatest impact on the success of Tampa Bay Harvest in its efforts to fulfill its mission of "working to end hunger in our community."

This posi­tion requires a dedicated and responsible individual, since the Transport Volunteer is responsible for picking up and delivering the donated food. Transport Volunteers report directly to the coordinator responsible for management of the route the volunteer has been assigned to. If you have more than one route, you may have more than one coordinator.

Code of Conduct

The food collected by Tampa Bay Harvest belongs to the donors or the charities registered with TBH, not TBH or its volunteers. Volunteers may not take the food anywhere other than the designated charity. It is understood that should the volunteer deliver the food to anywhere other than the approved agency, the consequences are:

The potential loss of a donor

The removal of your name from our volunteer list

There shall be no animals in your vehicle during the time that the food is in your vehicle.

There shall be no side trips permitted during the time that the donated food is in your vehicle.

All problems must be reported to 727-538-777, line 1, as soon as they are identified.

Safe food handling procedures must be followed. Including utilizing insulated blankets or coolers for perishable foods as they are obtained.

TBH management, including route coordinators, must attend a Safe Food Handling class and encourage all transporters to do the same.

Functions

Tampa Bay Harvest management will assign a volunteer to a transport route. Said transport route involves picking up the donated food from a single donor and transporting the donated food to, usually, a single recipient agency. Due to the large volume of food products donated by some donors, multiple recipient agencies could be assigned to a single pick up. Most transport routes will take less than one hour to complete. The following are the functions and responsibilities of a Transport Volunteer:

Once the volunteer has accepted an assignment to a specific route, that volunteer is totally responsible for the following functions:

To pick up the donated food during the pick up time window established by TBH management in conjunction with the donor. It is important that the Transport Volunteer take responsibility for picking up within the time frames established due to the fact that the time was established by TBH management in consultations with the donor so that the TBH pick up occurs at a time that is the least disruptive to the donor's business. Following this procedure helps maintain a positive rela­tionship with the donor. Side trips are not permitted once the food is in your vehicle.

The food belongs to the charity you have been assigned to deliver to, and cannot, even temporarily, go to any location other than the assigned charity. Upon receipt of this volunteer instruction sheet please discuss, with a relevant coordinator, an alternate site to be used, in the event of an agency closure.

REMEMBER TO KEEP ALL VALUABLES OUT OF SIGHT DURING THE TIME YOU ARE LOADING AND UNLOADING. KEEP YOU VEHICLE LOCKED EXCEPT WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO HAVE IT UNLOCKED.

To weigh the donation upon delivery to the recipient agency and to, immedi­ately following delivery of the donated food to the recipient agency, report the delivery to Tampa Bay Harvest by calling the TBH Voice Mail System at (727) 538‑7777 ext. 2. (A touch-tone phone is required to access this type of voice mail system). When making your report remember to give the entire donor and agency names. There are a number of donors and agencies with similar names.

The following is a sample of the type of donation report the Transport Volunteer must leave on the Voice Mail System: "On August 30, I picked up from Publix #81 and delivered the donation to Everybody's Tabernacle. My name is Mary Jones. The weight was 320 lbs." ( If there was no food available, you still need to make a report.) Remember to inform, in advance, the TBH Coordinator assigned to manage your route if you are unable to make an assigned pick up. It is requested that the Transport Volunteer give as much notice as possible to their Coordinator when the Transport Volunteer is unable to make their pick up so that the Coordinator has ample time to find a replacement.

In addition, reporting to your Coordinator any problems or difficulties experienced with either the donor or recipient agency will enable TBH management to maintain a strong working relationship with our donors and recipient agencies. Such reports will also enable management to keep things running smoothly, thus making the Transport Volunteer's job much easier.

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE. 1-800- HELP-FLA (435-7352) OR ONLINE AT: www.FloridaConsumerHelp.com RE REGISTRATION# CH1827. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.